TIMES UNION REPORTS – The trial for the woman accused of stabbing three people in their home in December has been set.
According to a court order, the trial for Vickie Louise Wooldridge, 44, of 19 M Dee Acres, Nappanee, has been set to start at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 8 for four days with a 12-person jury.
A final pretrial conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. Jan. 21 and Wooldridge was ordered to appear at the final pretrial conference and jury trial as scheduled.
Counsel is ordered to file all proposed instructions and final pretrial motions on or before Jan. 18.
Wooldridge is charged with murder, a Level 1 felony; attempted murder, a Level 1 felony; aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony; attempted criminal confinement, a Level 3 felony; and battery while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony.
According to the probable cause affidavit, at approximately 9:49 a.m. Dec. 15, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a Warsaw address regarding a woman, later identified as Wooldridge, stabbing people.
Upon arrival, deputies spoke with Diane Burr, who said her son’s girlfriend had stabbed her husband, William Burr, and her son, Matthew Lucas, 42. Diane was able to identify Wooldridge to police officers, and they began a search for her.
Officers found William on the living room floor, having at least one stab wound in the chest, court documents state.
Officers found Lucas in a basement bedroom and he had multiple stab wounds to the neck, face and chest. He was airlifted to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne for emergency treatment, where he was pronounced dead at the scene by the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office.
When police talked to Diane, she said she heard yelling in her home and asked William what he needed. William told Diane he was just yelling downstairs, telling Lucas and Wooldridge to stop arguing.
Later, Diane heard more screaming and entered the living room to find Wooldridge attacking William. Diane told police she attempted to pull Wooldridge off of her husband and Wooldridge began attacking her, according to the affidavit.
Diane tried to leave the residence to call police and said Wooldridge kept pulling her back into the home to prevent her from leaving.
Diane required medical attention for facial injuries, cuts to her hands and the loss of teeth, according to the affidavit.
When police spoke with William, he told police that he had heard yelling coming from downstairs and yelled down to ask if everything was all right and Wooldridge said everything was OK.
According to the affidavit, William said a short time later, Wooldridge came up from the basement, came up behind him and stabbed him in the chest while he was sitting there.
William said he began yelling for his wife, who then attempted to intervene. Once Diane was able to leave the residence to call police, William said he was able to obtain the knife from Wooldridge, and then she left the residence on foot.
Officers spent several hours searching the area for Wooldridge. A passerby observed a woman hiding in a dumpster several miles away from the home. When the passerby asked Wooldridge if she was OK, Wooldridge allegedly climbed out of the dumpster, was seen by law enforcement and taken into custody.
Diane died Dec. 28 due to health reasons.
